


Fate Is A Bitch

by tygermine



Series: Dramione Drabbles [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Modern Era, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tygermine/pseuds/tygermine
Summary: Hermione tries to enjoy her summer solstice, but a certain deity drops some unhappy news on her.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Series: Dramione Drabbles [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641019
Comments: 16
Kudos: 53
Collections: Summer Loving





	Fate Is A Bitch

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd with Grammarly and a bottle of wine.  
> For the prompt about evil spirits visiting people on the solstice. 
> 
> Yeah, I have no excuse...

Hermione Granger was for all intents and purposes a summer person. The long days, sunshine and shorts appealed to her in a way that not even the festiveness of Yule could.

The summer solstice was always spent in the Lydford Gorge in Devon. The thick forest and waterfall cooled the intense summer heat of the day and thrummed with magic from millennia past.

Harry was lying on the tartan blanket next to her as they awaited the various Weasleys to arrive in their own time, as usual. Hermione’s plans for the day were dampened when she noticed Malfoy and his latest arm candy set up their picnic in the clearing to the left of her own. 

“I swear he does this on purpose,” she complained to Harry.

“‘Mione, let’s just pretend he doesn’t exist for the day. I’ve got the Arctic Monkeys playing,” he pointed to the earphone stuck in his left ear. “It’s a beautiful day and I refuse to let anything bother me. Oh, pass me a beer?”

She leaned over to dig a Peroni from the cool-box and caught Draco’s eye. He had a drink raised to his lips but paused as they exchange a look.

The moment enveloped them, stretching out like a bubble of gum until it popped. She lowered her eyes, concentrating on digging out the bottle from between the ice.

Handing it over to Harry, she huffed. “The thing is, he always has some comment on anything we do.”

Harry took the bottle, popped off the cap with a twist and lifted his head to take a sip. “It’s really not on us that his festivities aren’t as much fun. Leave it and have a drink.”

Hermione wanted to take his advice, she really, really did. 

But.

Draco Malfoy’s mere presence was like a mosquito that didn’t want to leave her alone and no amount of citronella oil was going to chase him away.

She found herself hyper-aware of every move he made, every word he spoke (which really weren’t that many), and every flick of his gaze towards her. Hermione found herself swatting the air despite there being no actual midges around her. 

With an exasperated sigh, she turned to watch Harry as he lay there, taking in the sun with a smile on his face and a pair of sunglasses on his nose.

“But why did he have to choose that spot? Why not on the other side of the waterfall?”

When Harry failed to answer, she poked him.

He didn’t move.

She poked him again.

Still no movement. 

In fact, there was no movement from anything around her, as if the world had been frozen in place and she’d been forgotten. The feeling she settled on could be described as unsettled.

“Why have you not followed your fate?”

Hermione Granger did not scare easily, but under the circumstances, one couldn’t blame her for nearly jumping out of her skin and pulling her wand out in the same breath. On her feet, she turned in a full circle but couldn’t find the source of the voice.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” Hermione hoped she hid the wobble in her voice well enough from the… whatever it was that spoke to her.

“Why have you not followed your fate?”

The voice was made up of many voices, all feminine yet all different ages. They blended together in a way that left Hermione dizzy. 

“I won’t answer your question until you show yourself.”

“And I do not take orders nor bargain with an infant. Now tell me, little witch, why you have not followed your sodding fate!”

The vitriol in the tone left Hermione with a slight case of vertigo. She spun in place, desperately trying to track the source of the voice.

“Fate isn’t a real thing. It’s a fallacy made up to reassure people that their lives aren’t meaningless. It takes the responsibility off their shoulders when they fail to succeed in life.”

The disembodied voice cackled with mirth. “You silly little witch. You ignorant, speck of existence.”

“If you keep calling me names this conversation will not go well.” Hermione spun around for the umpteenth time, but the world remained frozen around her.

“It’s amusing that you feel the need to threaten me. Most would be cowering by now, begging to be shown the path they should follow.”

Tired of this game, Hermione pushed her wand into her pocket and crossed her arms. “Yes, well, I’ve survived far worse than some disembodied voice.”

Without the breeze, Hermione could feel the sweat begin to gather along her collar bone and the nape of her neck. She was acutely aware of a droplet rolling down her back along her spine until it reached the waistband of her denim shorts. Maybe she should have sat closer to the waterfall. A lesson for next year.

If next year ever comes.

What if she’s stuck in this frozen dimension outside of time forever?

What if everyone around her ages away into dust while she stays stuck here arguing with some weird deity?

She was really looking forward to the wine she’d packed.

“Okay, fine. You win, disembodied voice. Why do you claim I have ignored my fate.” She hoped that her sarcastic emphasis on the word fate would aggravate the deity into revealing itself.

A snake slithered towards her and it took every bit of self-control for her to stand still. Everyone knows you mustn’t move when a snake comes at you so that it will hopefully mistake you for a tree of something. What everyone forgets is that our instinct is to run when something deadly heads our way.

The snake reared up, growing taller and expanding until it was a foot taller than Hermione and resembled a humanoid shape, though the face kept morphing, as if the being couldn’t settle on one form. Between one blink and the next, it changed from a young girl to an old woman and back again, the features blending from caucasian to African to Asian to Native American to something far more primitive and back again at random.

“Oh fucking hell,” gasped Hermione. “You’re the Morrigan.”

“A clever one then, but not very smart.” The Morrigan attempted a smirk but between the faces, it got lost. “Clever enough to know me, but not smart enough to do what must be done.”

“Follow my fate?”

“Indeed.”

“I don’t see what is so important about this supposed fate of mine that requires a visit from you. I know all about you. Mother of War, Banshee, Triple Goddess. You bring death, destruction and pain. If you haven’t been paying attention, I’ve gone through all that already, or do you want me to go through that again for you? Are you here to scream my name, tell me I’m going to die soon? I’m not afraid, you know.”

The Morrigan narrowed it’s ever-changing eyes at Hermione until she felt the need to scrub herself clean from the scrutiny.

“No,” the Morrigan said after what felt like a tectonic age. “Your death is a long way off. But your fate is not yours alone.”

“If you utter the word soulmate, I swear I will shove my wand through my eye.”

The Morrigan blinked in surprise before letting out a chesty laugh. “Soulmates is merely a tale we gave the humans to consol those who did not have fates. It has been amusing to observe over the years, I must admit. But no, your fate is entwined with another. He cannot fulfil his destiny without you and that will truly bring death and destruction down on all.”

“This drunken lout next to me is the former Chosen One. He fulfilled his fate as a teenager, so I think you’re about ten years too late.”

“I grow tired of your tone, witch.”

“And I’ve grown tired of this visit and the ominous messages. What must I do to end this conversation?”

“The Malfoy boy-”

“Oh for fuck sake. Really?”

“-has a destiny that he must fulfil. Without you, he will not be able to fulfil it.”

“I am not going to babysit Malfoy just in case the world might end.”

“There will be no sitting on babies, naive witch. You must guide him and counsel him along his path. There is a darkness that is pulling him towards a precipice that he cannot fall from.”

“That’s not fair. Why can’t … I don’t know, anyone else but me, do that?”

“It’s as I’ve said, deaf little witch, fate. I do not control the fates, I only observe.”

“This isn’t observing. It’s interfering.”

“What can I say? I’ve grown fond of you little humans and I’d hate for everything to end before I’m ready for it to do so. Now, heed me, Hermione Granger. You have until the Winter Solstice. If you do not succeed, the shortest day may not come.”

With that, the Morrigan shrank back down into the form of a raven and as she pushed into the air, the air around Hermione shimmered, stuttered and finally fell back into time.

“Harry?” Hermione sank to her knees beside her friend.

He cocked an eyebrow at her from behind his sunglasses.

“Do you really think fate is a real thing?”

Harry lowered his eyebrow and shrugged. “Well, I am the Chosen One.”

She swatted him on the shoulder and turned to look at Malfoy. An ice-cold shiver ran down her spine, despite the heat of the day. 

Maybe she should take the Morrigan at her word and try to see if this fate business is the real thing. If it is, she saves the world. If not, she could always summon the Morrigan for a thorough I-Told-You-So.

  
  
  



End file.
